Students with short-term memory problems often need specific support strategies in place to help them master skills and keep up with their peers. Let's look at how poor short-term memory affects student performance and discuss what you, as the teacher, can do to help.

Problems with Memory

Jackson is a third-grade student in Ms. Heiner's class. Ms. Heiner has noticed that Jackson is falling behind. He's frequently off-task while the rest of the class is working. He doesn't finish his assignments and can't seem to answer comprehension questions after reading from his textbooks.

During math, he has major difficulties completing complex multiplication problems even though Ms. Heiner has reviewed the steps for completing these problems many times. He does not seem to master the same material that the rest of the class understands.

When the class is working on a specific skill over several days, such as grammar and punctuation, Jackson starts his work each day as if he's never seen or learned it before. Ms. Heiner begins to suspect that Jackson has poor short-term memory skills.

Poor Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory refers to the ability to recall and process small amounts of information for up to one minute. Students use their recall and short-term memory for a variety of skills needed for school success. For example, teachers often give their class two- or three-step directions to follow: 'Please find your seat and take out a pencil, a ruler, and your math assignment from yesterday.' Students with poor short-term memories may remember one thing from that list and forget the rest.

Students with poor short-term memory might be impacted as follows:

Forget information on a subject they have already learned

Fail to complete all tasks when given a list of instructions

Have trouble remembering what they've just read

Forget what others have said during conversations

These challenges can affect students' behavior, social interaction, and academic progress in all school subjects.

Teaching Strategies

In order to help students with memory problems, consider the following teaching strategies. These strategies will be explained with our case study in mind, using Jackson and Ms. Heiner as our examples. Some of these strategies can be put in place for the whole class, while others may be used as an additional accommodation for one specific student. Keep in mind that these ideas may work for some students and not for others. It will be up to you as the teacher to determine what will work in your classroom for your specific students.

Review Prior Knowledge

Before each lesson, Ms. Heiner explains how the new information they are learning today relates to what the students already know. By making a connection to prior knowledge for Jackson, his brain will be able to more easily retrieve information. Let's look at a couple of examples of what the review might sound like.

Yesterday, we practiced skip counting by fives. We practiced skip counting to one hundred like this: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30... Today we will practice skip counting to one hundred again, but by 10s. Just like in skip counting by 5s, counting by 10s will give us a faster way to count to 100. This will make multiplication problems easier.

Good morning! We are going to start today by reading Chapter Two from our book James and the Giant Peach. Yesterday, we read Chapter One together as a class. Let's talk for a moment about what happened in Chapter One. (At this point, Ms. Heiner asks some review questions that summarize what they've read and learned in Chapter One: What characters did we meet? What do we know about James and his family? Describe his aunts.)

Use Visuals

The use of visuals, such as posters, checklists, pictures, and graphic organizers, can be a helpful resource for students with memory problems. Ms. Heiner has placed a multiplication chart on her wall to be used at certain times by students like Jackson, who do not recall math facts easily. Here is another way she includes visuals:

Ms. Heiner writes out a checklist of the steps to completing a complex math problem. The steps are written the same way she taught this skill in front of the class. Jackson keeps this checklist on his desk during math time and refers to it when he gets stuck on a problem. For example, when solving the problem 25 x 36 = ?, the first step would say 'Write the problem vertically, lining up the numbers.'

Checklists are helpful visuals for students with short-term memory problems

Pause and Repeat Back

Ms. Heiner has found that it is helpful to have Jackson repeat instructions back to her. After delivering a set of instructions such as 'Please hang up your backpacks, find your seats, and pull out everything you need to finish your art project,' she pauses and walks over to Jackson. She then asks, 'Can you repeat that back to me?' At this point, Jackson will tell her what he remembers, and she can see whether he will be able to follow through or if he needs more prompting.

Other Strategies

In addition to the strategies mentioned, Ms. Heiner has implemented several other techniques that support Jackson:

Task analysis, which is the breaking down of skills or tasks into smaller chunks

Brief instruction, using few words

Workload reduction

Examples that interest or relate to the student to make the information meaningful and memorable

Task modeling (before assigning students to complete the task on their own)

Extra time allotment for students to answer questions or complete assignments

Lesson Summary

Short-term memory, or the ability to store and process information for a short period of time, is critical to success in school. Students with short-term memory problems often struggle with things like answering questions about what they've read and completing a set of multi-step instructions. These problems can have a negative impact on a student's ability to keep up with his or her peers.

In addition to task analysis, strategies you might implement to help students with memory problems include modeling, using visuals, having students repeat information, and making connections to prior knowledge. As you provide this support, you will see a positive change as students begin to complete their assignments, master the skills being taught, and develop self-confidence in the classroom.

Summary:

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